YouTube has launched in two more South African languages: Afrikaans and isiZulu. The announcement was made today at the second annual Google South Africa (G-SA) event held in Newtown, Johannesburg.

A screenshot of YouTube (image: YouTube)

Here, over 30 Google experts from around the globe are meeting with businesses, marketers, entrepreneurs, and web developers to discuss the future of online business and web application development, and conduct training on Google’s products.

This announcement comes not long after the one year anniversary of the launch of the South African version of YouTube, which made it even faster and easier for local users to find and view the videos most relevant to them.

“The new language versions mean that Internet users whose first language is isiZulu or Afrikaans can now fully enjoy what YouTube has to offer,” says Luke Mckend, who delivered the keynote at the Newtown event.

“YouTube gives South Africans the power to broadcast themselves, with great content in both languages increasingly finding its way onto YouTube. Popular Afrikaans channels include Die Heuwels Fantasties, HuisegenootTempo, kanaalMK and Pasella TV. Meanwhile, Mducomics is a trumpet for isiZulu content and users can easily find Zulu music on JusGorilla.”

In South Africa, YouTube views have increased by 175% in the past year and, according to a survey by Ipsos and TNS, 50% of smartphone users watch videos on their phones every month. Globally, more than 48 hours (two days worth) of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute – a 37% increase over the last six months and a 100% increase over the last year.

YouTube recently passed the 3 billion views a day mark, equivalent to nearly half the world’s population watching a YouTube video each day. Around the world, 600 tweets per minute minute contain a YouTube video.